(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) No. 5 PLNU Baseball and No. 22 Westmont are locked in a battle for the PacWest championship.
 
While Tuesday's doubleheader in Santa Barbara didn't count towards the conference standings, the competitiveness of the two teams was on full display in a non-conference doubleheader split, with Point Loma taking game one 6-3 and Westmont winning the second game 2-1.
 
In the first inning of game one, Point Loma took a 2-0 lead after Bryson Hashimoto plated Eric Smelko with an RBI-groundout and Esai Santos scored on a wild pitch.
 
The Warriors tied the game the following inning with a two-run homer, only for the Sea Lions to answer immediately to retake the lead with a run in the top of the third on Scott Anderson's RBI-grounder.
 
Smelko's RBI-single in the fourth then put PLNU up by two before Point Loma scored twice in the eighth via base hits from Joey Nicolai and Santos to round out its scoring.
 
Dylan Miller pitched six innings of two-run ball to earn his eighth win of the season, before James Sashin came on to pitch a scoreless ninth to earn his 13th save of the year.
 
The Sea Lions got another quality outing from its starting pitcher in game two, with Austyn Coleman pitching five innings and allowing only two runs.
 
But PLNU's offense was only able to muster a single run in the top of the third on a Hashimoto groundout, as Point Loma left 11 runners on base, including the bases loaded to end the game. The loss ended the Sea Lions' season-high nine-game winning streak.
 
Point Loma (27-8-1 overall) returns to the field on Tuesday at Cal Poly Pomona. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.